This class is designed to help the student understand motor skills by examining course work typically done by teachers and coaches. Class work will include the research in growth and motor development, motor learning, and fundamental movements which have been developed to provide answers and refine theories related to sport, physical education, and fitness. Emphasis will also be placed on professions in sport, fitness, and physical education which share a common interest in motor-skill performance and learning.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

The student will:1. Learn and exhibit fundamental movements: locomotor, non-locomotor, manipulative, and falling/landing movement concepts such as body, space, effort, and relationships.2. Learn and exhibit knowledge of growth and motor development: role of perception in motor development, such as in spatial movement relationships; neurophysiology of motor control; effects of maturation and experience on motor patterns; biological and environmental influences on gender differences in motor performances.3. Learn and exhibit knowledge of classical and current theories of motor learning: variables that affect learning and performance; effects of individual differences on learning and performance.